1. We should be choosing delegates to the national convention based 100% on the caucus/convention system. The Democrats are. Since the Presidential Primary will be pointless for the Dems, they are free to vote on a Republican ballot, which means that we will probably get a liberal Republican nominated by Washington State.

Posted by: Michelle on June 11, 2007 04:15 PM

2. which means that we will probably get a liberal Republican nominated by Washington State.

It won't matter anyway. With the front loaded primary's this year you won't even have a choice when the primary actually rolls around. It's like 2000 when it was Bush vs McCain. The whole primary room was covered wall to wall with Bush campaign signs. It was quite clear who the winner was going to be before people even had a chance to vote...McCain pulled out of the race the following day. The primary system in this country is a joke at best.

Posted by: Cato on June 11, 2007 04:29 PM

3. Change the word primary to caucus...not that it matters your vote is still worthless after Feb. 5th.

Posted by: Cato on June 11, 2007 04:32 PM

4. Forgive my ignorance in this matter, but is this also the date we have a primary for other state offices as well?

If so, this would give the incumbent a huge advantage as the challenger would have a shortened time period to file, raise money and run a campaign.

Posted by: Ken on June 11, 2007 06:28 PM

5. Forgive my ignorance in this area, but is this also the primary where other office nominations are held?

If so, this would give the incumbent a huge advantage as the challenger would have avery short time to file, raise money and run a campaign.

Posted by: Ken on June 11, 2007 06:32 PM

6. That's a good question, Ken, for folks who are new to this state.

No, this isn't the date that the primaries for other statewide offices are held - those will be held in August of 2008. This is just the presidential primary on the ballot (and usually some school levy elections).

Posted by: Voter on June 11, 2007 07:33 PM

7. I would gently argue that the WA Primary *MIGHT* still end up being important for we the (R)s this year, IF the nomination is still up for grabs after the 5 Feb extravaganze..... and it might be.... O.K.: That might be somewhat of a long-shot bet, but IMO better that than to join the zoo on 5 Feb: We would just be lost in the noise. And if the nomination IS still in doubt by 19 Feb, you can bet we will get some serious attention from the surviving candidates.
And if not..... well, can't win all your bets.

Posted by: Methow Ken on June 11, 2007 10:32 PM

8. Pam Roach: I'm so glad she's a Republican!

Posted by: murtz on June 11, 2007 11:58 PM

9. Kudos to the Republicans for making sure the primary counts. Now they ought to spend some advertising money leading up to the primary explaining how the democrats aren't going to count their votes and that only the Republicans are truly for the people, and invite everyone, Democrats & all to vote in the primary for the Rep. candidate.

It's bold and a bit crazy, but I believe the long-term benefit in the goodwill and getting people to punch the 'R' will far outweigh any short-term cost. What's the worst that could happen? That's right, any crossover Democrats that would be out to ruin the Republican nomination would vote for Ron Paul, they aren't going to vote for Rudy because at this point in time he stands the greatest chance of beating their candidate in the general election. If they were smart they would vote for the Fred T's and Romney's, those who are polling far behind in the head-to-head's.

Posted by: Doug on June 12, 2007 07:14 AM

10. Doug: of course, you insisted all along the GOP wouldn't allocate delegates based on the primary, and attacked them for a decision that was never made to that effect.

Michelle: if we see the numbers and it's obvious Democrats participated in our primary in significant numbers, we can change allocation of delegates after the election. It may look bad, but there's nothing stopping us from changing it, based on the bad behavior of many of the state's Democratic voters.

And as Methow Ken said, there is still a chance the primary will matter: because of the compressed primary season, it increases the chances that there will not be a single candidate still alive after Feb. 5. Candidates will have less of an opportunity to pull ahead. Remember 2000: McCain was still very much alive after NH, going in to South Carolina. He fell away after that only after losing in South Carolina. In 2008, there's a big possibility that we will have 2 or 3 or more candidates alive and kicking after Feb. 5.

Posted by: pudge on June 12, 2007 08:21 AM

11. Pudge, I was 'advocating' so that they would not vote as the Democrats have done and as many R insiders wanted to, including many on this site. I never insisted they wouldn't, though I insisted they very well could and argued passionately that they shouldn't. I was very pleasantly surprised that they chose to allocate 51%, I think it's a great move and they should run with it in the public eye around the primary season. This is a very independent state and this simple little issue has the ability to gain lots of Rep. votes in the long term if handled right. There really is no downside unless you count party insiders losing some control and maybe their right to get a paid trip to a convention somewhere. The upside is huge and we can use this Pres. primary issue to move independent votes in the long run.

It's the anti-Bush leaning independent votes that the R's need in the upcoming election and this state's primary is one way to get out the news that we want them to vote for a better replacement. Get them to build some ownership in their selection and in our party.

Posted by: Doug on June 12, 2007 10:54 AM

12. Pudge,

How will you tell by the numbers that large numbers of Democrats participated in the Republican primary since nobody is registered in this state?

Posted by: Michelle on June 12, 2007 12:46 PM

13. Michelle: if we see a two million GOP voters, we'll know something is up. Obviously, that is an extreme example, but it's not hard to look at the numbers and see anomalies and figure it out.

I've spent quite a bit of time going over canvassing data from Snohomish County for the last several elections. I got the data files from the Auditor's office and massaged them into a database. We could even go precinct by precinct and see if there's been significant changes in voting patterns. I don't have the 2004 primary data (just recent generals), but I could get that easy enough.

Posted by: pudge on June 12, 2007 01:48 PM

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